FLINT, MI -- When Josey Scott left Saliva to pursue a Christian music career, the band thought it was over. But a name kept popping up in text-messaged conversations of a man who could resurrect the collective, known for the hits "Always" and "Ladies and Gentlemen."

A singer, songwriter and producer from Florida, Bobby Amaru has turned out to be the band's savior.

"There are a lot of bands from here like Cold and Shinedown," Amaru said during a recent phone conversation. "It was one of those things where joining just kind of made sense. If it was going to work, this could be a good opportunity -- especially for me, as well. It's not easy to fill in shoes for a singer. Most people want to hang you over by a tree, 'You can't replace the original.' I'm not trying to replace. I'm trying to take it to another level."

Saliva, which plays The Machine Shop on Friday, Nov. 30, is negotiating a record deal and has already recorded several songs, including some it plans to play for fans in Flint. The band hopes to hit the studio in January.

"The new songs we're working on right now are really awesome," Amaru said. "There's a lot of really heavy stuff that I think Saliva fans will really like."

Scott, who also co-wrote and dueted with Nickelback's Chad Kroeger on 2002's anthemic" Hero," left the band in November 2011.

Since joining in January, Amaru has done four tours with Saliva and he said he feels they've gone well. He said his energy bolsters Saliva, which also includes guitarist Wayne Swinny, bassist Dave Novotny and drummer Paul Crosby.

"I bring an uplifting attitude or whatever," Amaru said. "I think they had a lot of problems with each other. It all kind of went to a certain someone in the past or whatever. As of now, there's no drama. We don't fight. Everything's peaceful and normal on the bus. We watch Sunday football. It's great."

Amaru added he thinks it's "refreshing" for Saliva to have a new singer.

"It's awesome to see the crowd respond really well to [the new material]," he said. "I'm not a big fan of if I go to a concert, and a band's like, 'We're going to play some new songs.' We just play two new songs and we separate them in the set. People really respond well to them it's great. It's awesome."

There are challenges, however, to being the newcomer to Saliva. Amaru knows that every night he has to go out and give his best.

"When you are replacing somebody, they want to watch you fail," he said of the band's fans. "They want to see you suck. They want to hate it. My goal is to make everybody into it. I'm real aggressive with the crowd when it comes to in between songs and talking to them, inviting the crowd to sing, making them feel involved. That's what rock shows are about."

When Amaru attends shows, he likes singers who are energetic as well, ones that do not "stand there like a statue."

"People are paying money," he said. "No matter if you're playing clubs, arenas or a yard sale, give people something to walk away talking about. In this situation, people have to talk about it. It's either, 'The new guy sucks' or 'The new guy's really good.' It goes one way or another.

"As far as a challenge, we have a built brand that we could actually succeed with and have some more years out of if it's done right. We want to go out and move some units and just get people really into this thing and talking about this thing--and revive the band."

Saliva with special guests Echo Drive, Ghosts of August and 2 Heded Chan
7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30
The Machine Shop, 3539 S. Dort Highway, Flint
$15 in advance for the 18 and older show
(810) 715-2650 or etix.com